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Seriously.

Somebody please remind my kids that someday they will be longing for food like mom used to make.

lördag 14 juli 2012

Peanut Butter Bon-Bons

Peanut Butter Bon-Bons, aka Buckeyes gone awry.

I am a peanut butter lover. I was born and raised in the US, so it sort of comes with the terrain. My kids love peanut butter. They also love root beer, which most Europeans think tastes like mouthwash, though Swedes say it tastes like a kind of gum called Jenka. My husband will gladly drink root beer, and is actually rather fond of it. Peanut butter, however, is his kryptonite. This may perhaps be the one food item he refuses to eat. He likes peanuts, and things that are peanut-flavored, but just not peanut butter or anything containing it. He eats the Swedish peanut rings, a form of chip, that taste just like peanut butter. I don't get it. The good thing is that I get my Peanut Butter Cups all to myself. Or at least I used to, before we procreated.

Peanut Butter Cups is one of the things that I always ask my parents to bring/send from the US. I can buy them locally, but for about five dollars a package. A bit steep. Therefore, I was thrilled when I found a recipe for something that resembles them while perusing Smitten Kitchen. The recipe was for something called Buckeyes, and I took my first opportunity to make them.

The dough-making process went smoothly enough, even with help from the big girl. It was the dipping process that got me. They just did not want to stay on the fork/skewer, and some even fell apart. The Buckeyes quickly became something else - Peanut Butter Bon-Bons. Just tossing them in there and rolling around with a fork was much kinder to my baking-stress levels. And I do not believe that the absence of a little naked circle of peanut butter will adversely affect the delicious flavor of these candies.

I am a little nutty when it comes to baking. Failed cooking attempts don't bother me much, but when I slave over a cake, only to have it stick to the bottom of the pan and come out in several pieces, I have a melt-down. I just may be a baking perfectionist. I am therefore not one of those moms that bakes a lot with their kids. I am too much of a control freak when it is something I am planning to serve to others.

This time, I did let big girl help me roll the balls, after some neurotic instructions about the proper and uniform size I wanted them to be. I was a bit relieved when she lost interest before the dipping part started.

Peanut Butter Bon-Bons (that tried to be Buckeyes but failed)

1/4 cup cream cheese

1 1/2 c. creamy peanut butter

1 c. digestive cracker/graham cracker crumbs

a dash of salt

3 c. powdered sugar

10 T. (282 g) butter, melted and cooled

17 oz. (500 g) dark chocolate

In a stand mixer, combine cream cheese and peanut butter. Add cracker crumbs and the salt if you like. Mix on low speed 10 seconds. Then add the butter and powdered sugar and mix on low speed until just combined. Scrape the bowl down throroughly, and mix a little more. Then melt the chocolate over a double boiler (I use a glass bowl placed on top of a medium saucepan with water in it) and turn off the heat. While chocolate melts, roll the dough into balls, about a tablespoon in size. They are pretty sweet, so smaller is perhaps better. Dip the balls in the chocolate one by one, rolling them and lifting them with a fork. Let excess drip off for a second, then place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Let harden. If you are desperate for a peanut butter fix, put some in the fridge to accelerate the hardening process. My batch yielded 87. If you can't resist eating the dough before they are finished, yours might yield a bit less.